To LOVE-Ru – 11

Impressions:
So I’ve been hearing “Yami-chan” a lot lately in the reader comments and having watched this episode, I can sort of see what the appeal of her character is. If I were to make a comparison, her somewhat naive and timid nature is similar to Kou‘s in Wagaya no Oinari-sama, which those of you following my coverage of that series will already know I’m quite fond of. Fukuen Misato does a really good job portraying Yami in that way, which is a bit of a pleasant surprise to me. I haven’t seen that many series Misato’s been in, but Yami’s character really contrasts her role as the “energetic” succubus Kurono Kurumu in Rosario to Vampire last season.

Finally, the scene where Zastin and Lala were playing a Deviluke version of rock-paper-scissors had me thinking about bear-hunter-ninja the entire time. Given how I have a friend who always brings up bear-hunter-ninja to settle things in an idiotic way (especially when alcohol is involved), I couldn’t help but laugh at that scene. Next time, it looks like there’ll be a sports festival with fellow students Saki, Yui, and Ren participating of course. I’m hoping we’ll see Yami again as well, but there isn’t any indication of that from the preview. =(

@W-General:
Seeing as both those series are from the same creator, I don’t doubt it. I haven’t gotten around to watching Black Cat yet (although it’s on my “To Watch” list), so I wasn’t in a good position to make that assessment. Thanks for pointing it out though. =)

@tylon:
Zastin seems pretty strong when he actually fights, but given how he always gets defeated in unexpected ways (e.g. this time jumping into a manhole), it’s hard to take him too seriously. It’s all part of his character I guess.

I just have to say, not only is Bear-Hunter-Ninja simultaneously hilarious and awe-inspiring, the resolution quality in that Youtube video is AMAZING! (as noted by fellow viewers) Really top tier stuff.

Hmmm… I suppose I should make some comment about the show… I dunno, new girl looks like Fate from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha? ‘Cept Fate was flatter (pre-StrikerS).

There’s a good deal of Black Cat -> To-Love Ru crossing over like that. Yami is Eve. Kyouko comes out too. And I don’t think the anime will get that far, but Rito and Rinslet have a thing in common. ;)

Just a little trivia, The artist for Black Cat and To Love Ru is one and the same, and making a somewhat cameo appearance is Eve as Yami in To Love Ru. I was expecting them to make use of Eve’s VA for Yami and Lo and Behold they did ^^

Divine posted:“His character design reminds me of something out of the pages of Dragon Ball much like the Gi Buri did back in episode six, so I’m starting to wonder if Yabuki Kentarou (To LOVE-Ru original art creator) was inspired by Toriyama Akira (Dragon Ball creator) at all.”

Didn’t you catch the line in the first ep after she first shows Rito her tail, where she says “Just because I havbe a tail doesn’t mean I’ll transform when I see a full moon”? It’s in the manga rendition of that scene as well. The author is obviously a Toriyama fan.

You can’t really say they “copied” Eve, not only because they created her the first time, but it’s more like they just wanted to use Eve again. They even got Fukuen Misato to play her again.

They do it more than just with her too. “Burning Magical Girl Kyouko: I’m burning up with love!” was on the televisions in the manga from very early on, though I’m not sure if they’ve used it in the anime yet.

Chiba Chiemi plays Sawada Mio in To LOVE-Ru and also Kirisaki Kyouko in Black Cat. So in other words, they casted the same seiyuu much like they did for Yami.

@Everyone:
Personally, I see this re-use of characters as more of a homage to Black Cat fans than anything else. Having seen this done by other creators and remembering how cool it was to see (basically) the same character in another series, I get the impression that this was Yabuki Kentarou‘s intention, albeit this being more of a gut feeling than anything else. I mean, cameos are cool; if it’s something more than that, it’s even cooler as long as things don’t feel “recycled”.

I personally feel Eve is very different from Yami. Personality wise, they feel the same, but I dunno. It just somehow feels different. Eve in Black Cat is very insecure without Sven, and very mature… Perhaps Lala will play the role of Sven here…

It’s pretty sad that this show is around 50% filler already. The manga’s should be far enough that it could have been 26 episodes of non-filler. I thought pretty lowly of this series when I started watching it so I read the manga to give it a fair chance. The manga’s so much better =/